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Auction vs Re-draft (one better than the other - Pros & Cons) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter xenon
- Start date
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
Redrafts work much better for the guys who want to show up to the draft unprepared with a magazine and make their picks on the fly.
Auctions are for the dedicated players.
Auctions are for the dedicated players.
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
If you're able to get everyone together for an afternoon to do it you'll never want to draft any other way than auction.
I don't even think it's much of a debate of how superior auction drafts are. I know refracts have their advantages but an auction is much more rewarding. Even prepping for an auction is a ton more fun.
I don't even think it's much of a debate of how superior auction drafts are. I know refracts have their advantages but an auction is much more rewarding. Even prepping for an auction is a ton more fun.
Voice Of Reason
Footballguy
This.
Auctions are more fun but there is a much higher potential for a disastrous team for inexperienced players.
BigSteelThrill
Footballguy
Auctions are chaos method.
You also are forced into less players drafted because of time constraints and thus limit trading/interaction.
But auction is also a perfectly fair starting point for all.
And has very little tactics/strategy once you figure out how it works (you can see from the total lack of these types of threads for auctions).
You also are forced into less players drafted because of time constraints and thus limit trading/interaction.
But auction is also a perfectly fair starting point for all.
And has very little tactics/strategy once you figure out how it works (you can see from the total lack of these types of threads for auctions).
Voice Of Reason
Footballguy
dkp993
Footballguy
BigSteelThrill
Footballguy
The problem is the chaos.
Your basic pre-hand strategy consist of when to call up players (early, mid, late).
You still have (as any method does) what players you actually want/dont want.
And people try to allocate $$$ amounts prehand, but the chaos will constantly override this.
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BigSteelThrill
Footballguy
Ive done baseball, football and basketball Auctions for pretty much 3 decades (egads) now and I don't have to do much of any preparation beyond player evaluation now in those types of leagues.
Certainly not true of my drafts. Especially considering all the trades/maneuvering my leagues make in drafts that simply dont happen in auctions.
You also cannot argue that there is an utter lack of tactics/strategy talk about auctions. And the reason is plain and simple.
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Hawkeye21
Footballguy
I don't get why there is so much more to talk about with redrafts than there is with auctions. After doing about 20 mock redrafts I just see the same players going in the same rounds every time. It's the same thing for me every year, I go crazy with mocks in May through June and by the time July rolls around I'm bored with them because it just seems so repetitive. The only big variable in redrafts that I see is the draft position and that's about it.
With auctions you have a wide variety of strategies available to you since you are locked into one drafting position. There are money management, player nomination and bidding strategies. Not only that but you still have the same strategies as redrafts that involve going RB heavy, WR heavy, balanced or zero RB. To me, an auction offers everything a redraft does plus a whole lot more. When you can get everyone together for a live auction draft you'll have the best draft day ever.
I live in Iowa and fly to Houston every year to visit my brother and do a live auction draft with him and his friends. I look forward to this trip all year and prepare for it a little every week. I'm always reading articles and tweaking my rankings. I have my own spreadsheet that determines player's auction values based on our league's scoring. There's really nothing like it.
With auctions you have a wide variety of strategies available to you since you are locked into one drafting position. There are money management, player nomination and bidding strategies. Not only that but you still have the same strategies as redrafts that involve going RB heavy, WR heavy, balanced or zero RB. To me, an auction offers everything a redraft does plus a whole lot more. When you can get everyone together for a live auction draft you'll have the best draft day ever.
I live in Iowa and fly to Houston every year to visit my brother and do a live auction draft with him and his friends. I look forward to this trip all year and prepare for it a little every week. I'm always reading articles and tweaking my rankings. I have my own spreadsheet that determines player's auction values based on our league's scoring. There's really nothing like it.
Uncle Grandpa
Footballguy
So much more strategy in auctions. It's not close. And why are we referring to snake drafts as redrafts?
Ilov80s
Footballguy
The auction is more fair, but I don't find them as fun. You need everyone in your league to be super into fantasy to pull this off. I have stable league that's been running for 12 years. No way we would ever go to auction though. We have too much tradition tied into the snake draft. The teams that miss the playoffs go into a toilet bowl playoff where the winner gets the option to choose their draft slot the next year. We have a early summer BBQ where we draw the draft order. Those are long standing traditions that would be lost with an auction.
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
The one thing I haven't done yet is actually list the pros and cons of both. I'm been talking up auctions but redrafts (snakes) have their benefits too.
Auction Pros:
Can use a lot of strategy
The ability to get any player you want
Great social event for live drafts
Auction Cons:
Usually take longer
If you're not prepared it can be much harder
Snake Pros:
They don't take as long
Easy to get a league together
Not much skill level needed
Doesn't need much to prepare for
Snake Cons:
You're stuck with your draft position
Can't get any player you want
Some people don't take them seriously because they are easier to do
Auction Pros:
Can use a lot of strategy
The ability to get any player you want
Great social event for live drafts
Auction Cons:
Usually take longer
If you're not prepared it can be much harder
Snake Pros:
They don't take as long
Easy to get a league together
Not much skill level needed
Doesn't need much to prepare for
Snake Cons:
You're stuck with your draft position
Can't get any player you want
Some people don't take them seriously because they are easier to do
Jack White
Footballguy
This Year 11 in my main home money league.
I've proposed switching to an auction for years now.
It's not going to happen, and for the same reason 80s states here.
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
If you have a traditional league like that which everyone enjoys then there is not reason to change it. I do recommend that everyone join an auction league at some point though. My main league is an auction but I run another league with mostly couples and we just do a snake auto draft. I don't prefer to do it this way but it's the only way to keep them all in the league. The easier it is for them the more they like staying in the league each year and I'm ok with that.
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
Amused to Death
Footballguy
I would move this to the "Pros" section. A weekend afternoon with friends, football, beer & cigars...who wants to rush that?
Auctions are inherently more equitable. Everyone has the same opportunity at the top players. In a draft format, you do not.
Auctions require a deeper understanding of the player pool. In a draft format, you can simply print a top 200 list from a litany of websites and, if you just follow that list, will probably yield a competitive team.
Yes, I know sites print auction values, but they are completely static. After the first dozen or so players are allocated, those values are pretty useless. Auctions require fluid thinking, as the value of players constantly changes as the auction progresses. In a draft format, following the runs of players and spotting ways to exploit value is much more straightforward.
I use both formats but find auction to be more challenging and rewarding.
Auctions require a deeper understanding of the player pool. In a draft format, you can simply print a top 200 list from a litany of websites and, if you just follow that list, will probably yield a competitive team.
Yes, I know sites print auction values, but they are completely static. After the first dozen or so players are allocated, those values are pretty useless. Auctions require fluid thinking, as the value of players constantly changes as the auction progresses. In a draft format, following the runs of players and spotting ways to exploit value is much more straightforward.
I use both formats but find auction to be more challenging and rewarding.
dmac37
Footballguy
Real simple, if you take fantasy football serious and want to reduce the luck factor then auction for all the reasons listed above is the way to go.
If you want to make it simple for the casual cookie cutter player then snake draft is the way to go. After my first auction I never considered a standard snake draft but auction is not for everybody.
If you want to make it simple for the casual cookie cutter player then snake draft is the way to go. After my first auction I never considered a standard snake draft but auction is not for everybody.
cliffhuxtible
Footballguy
I've been running a league that made the switch to auction for several years now. It's a casual league but everybody participates fully. I disagree that auction is a format for serious players only. I've seen people mismanage the auction and wind up with a good team. I've also seen some very prepared guys put together a killer roster that implodes due to the unforeseen or become so obsessed with value that they miss the entire point.
Many of our better players (that I know from more serious leagues) become obsessed with value in a league full of relatively unknowledgeable players. They win the auction every year but they rarely win the league. They have outrageously good team depth but it turns out the guy that overspent on two studs and spent $5 on a kicker wins the league, because his starting lineup was better. Good players tend to hang back and control the auction at the end. Sometimes that works great, and sometimes it results in a team where half the roster are third round talents but they lose out to the guys who spent 70% of their budget on Adrian Peterson.
I think that's the equalizer in an auction. If you become obsessed with value, you can forget that it's about putting together the best starting lineup each week and not about having the best roster top to bottom. Sometimes under thinking the whole thing and being willing to pay a dollar more than everybody else for a guy you like is much better than trying to maximize value.
The other thing I like about an auction is that the pricing is more reflective of the truth about fantasy football. In a draft, people want to talk about whether a guy is a fourth round talent, a six round talent, etc. In our auction, the pricing tends to reflect a more honest reality, which is that there are 48-60 guys with very specific relative values and an absolute ton of guys where nobody really knows anything.
Many of our better players (that I know from more serious leagues) become obsessed with value in a league full of relatively unknowledgeable players. They win the auction every year but they rarely win the league. They have outrageously good team depth but it turns out the guy that overspent on two studs and spent $5 on a kicker wins the league, because his starting lineup was better. Good players tend to hang back and control the auction at the end. Sometimes that works great, and sometimes it results in a team where half the roster are third round talents but they lose out to the guys who spent 70% of their budget on Adrian Peterson.
I think that's the equalizer in an auction. If you become obsessed with value, you can forget that it's about putting together the best starting lineup each week and not about having the best roster top to bottom. Sometimes under thinking the whole thing and being willing to pay a dollar more than everybody else for a guy you like is much better than trying to maximize value.
The other thing I like about an auction is that the pricing is more reflective of the truth about fantasy football. In a draft, people want to talk about whether a guy is a fourth round talent, a six round talent, etc. In our auction, the pricing tends to reflect a more honest reality, which is that there are 48-60 guys with very specific relative values and an absolute ton of guys where nobody really knows anything.
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dkp993
Footballguy
TZMarkie
Footballguy
Great post.
But you say "I've also seen some very prepared guys put together a killer roster that implodes due to the unforeseen or become so obsessed with value that they miss the entire point."
I think this is recency bias.
We all have seen guys that have had great lineups, that go south when injuries occur.
It happens in almost every league each year. After the season is over, you can look back and say that 2 or 3 key injuries ruined that teams chances.
One year some years ago, I found myself in the playoffs in one competitive league, even though I had perhaps 7 or 8 injuries at RB on said team.
That year, my luck finally ran out when I found myself starting Montell Owens and Jalen Parmele at RB in the playoffs.
It was uncanny how many injuries I suffered that year. 5 of my first 6 draft picks missed extended time. There were at least another 4-5 that had lesser injuries I was dealing with in spots too.
But thats the exception, not the rule.
The ones that continuously get the better squads, and continuously put the better teams on the field,are the ones that make the playoffs more often and also the ones that win the most championships long term.
Those guys that put together the "killer rosters" will certainly have their fair share of wins and playoff runs, though it might not have happened those years in particular.
I think the constant "value hunting", when taken to an extreme,is a slightly more damaging problem for the auction player than it is in more re draft based players.
The "overly obsessed" value seekers often rob themselves of break out players, ones who make the difference mid season.
(I think it hurts re draft players too, but maybe not quite as badly)
Its become the trendy thing the last few years, for fantasy analysts to mention "value", often to the point where it makes me get a little sick.
Its very damn rare someone talks about the detriment of being too value obsessed.
(stop looking for the value steal at WR4, and snag the RB depth, often you will thank me near the end of the season)
You can easily envision a scenario in auction, where people sniff out all the value plays after round 3 or so, and ultimately they have a strong team of "second tier type" players.
Essentially low upside players...... even though many might have slightly higher floors, they often have fairly low ceilings too.
I would personally love to have more auction leagues locally.
But its just never going to fly with the groups that I am involved in.
TZM
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